• UBULAYA villagers draw water from a shallow well

By SAM PHIRI –

IN the periphery of Lufwanyama District is a narrow dusty footpath snaking through a quiet thicket leading to a strewn area of Ubulaya.
Chirping insects and twittering birds are the only silence breakers through this bushy path that generates questions as to what kind of lifestyle would unfold ahead.
The scorching sun is not felt much as most trees along this path provide a relieving and cooling overhead shed from the green freshness of their leaves.
It is beautiful scenery good for the camera lens though upon reaching the final destination which happens to be Eunice Kandala’s home, a shocking lifestyle unfolds.
This is a kind of poverty and hunger-encircled daily life that would make you regret having thrown away leftover food if you did!
From appreciating the beauty of nature encircling the area, the smile would fade away when a reality of Ms Kandala’s almost falling sludge brick thatched structure which her family has come to call home strikes your face.
Upon arrival, one is greeted by an astonishing sight of a huge gaping crack in the mud brick wall of her house.
Poles have been fixed at an angle to try and support the almost collapsing sidewalls that are complemented by a disintegrating thatched rooftop.
As a woman, fixing poles to hold the wall from falling is how far Ms Kandala, 34 years, can go were preventive measures from total collapse of the house is concerned.
One wonders what would happen to this family during the looming rainy season if nothing is done before then.
At first sight, one might conclude that the house is an abandoned structure that due to time factor and non maintenance is almost crumbling.
Despite the glaring danger on the walls of this house, it is still home to this single parent heading a household of six that includes both her aged parents.
It is beyond belief to imagine how this family has miraculously managed to see the next day in what looks like a death trap of a house with hunger and poverty clearly at its pinnacle.
Imagine, it was after 16:00 hours and Ms Kandala just discloses that her household has not had a single meal and that the likelihood of sleeping without eating is very much high.
A single evening meal per day or indeed nothing at all is what has come to be their normal lifestyle.
“If my son manages to bring something from the charcoal he has gone to sale, we will have something to eat but we first have to give the children,” she narrates.
Ms Kandala, is not a widow, but says her spouse ran away from the challenges the family was and is still facing more than two years ago leaving her and the children wrapped in abject poverty.
Food and shelter are not the only challenges this single parent is faced with as there is no access to clean drinking water as well.
The only water source accessible and seasonal is about two hundred meters away from her house on a swampy shallow well shared with animals.
“This water source is temporary because it will soon dry up in October and we are forced to fetch water from the nearest borehole in the area which is about five kilometers away,” she says.
Ms Kandala is clearly in a desperate situation or otherwise she and her family might soon be making not very good headlines.
Ubulaya of Lima community is vast but with the people living far apart, one would not know whether to call this, a village or simply a cluster of huts dotted about.
Perhaps this factor has made it more difficult for social amenities like health, education and road infrastructure to be accessed here.
Save the Children International has, however, trudged through this thicket of challenge to brighten the faces of these people with practical hopes.
Save the Children has prioritised heath, nutrition and education sectors here for clear reasons that with good health and high literacy levels, the community would wean itself from abject future.
Saboi Imboela, advocacy and communications coordinator of Save the Children international has seen this desperate situation and has committed her organisation to lend a hand to try and mitigate some of the challenges.
She says poverty in this area is a major driving force to a lot of detrimental decisions parents like Ms Kandala would make on her three girls.
“It is clear that Ms Kandala is unable to take care of her family in almost all spheres of life such that if not helped she may end up marrying off her children at a very tender age of even 12 or 13 years,
That is why we have identified her family because the children qualify for our nutrition and education sponsorship,” she says.
In widening its aid further to such families, the organisation has a rotating goat rearing project which Eunice’s family has become a beneficiary.
In the area of health, Save the Children has donated bicycles to the community to be used as ambulances for families like that of Ms Kandala located in an area that can allow a four wheeled automobile.
“Ubulaya is one community in Lufwanyama where Save the Children is implementing its orphans and vulnerable Children support and education,” said Stephen Filumba Save the Children manager Kalulshi office hope of nutritional health and education has been given to Ms Kandala family by Save the Children but that is how much they can do as an organisation for now.
It is evident that humanitarian conscience ought to take centre stage in a quest to bail out the beleaguered family.
The one million Kwacha question begging for an answer now is: Who will rise to the remaining challenge?